What in the world?

I try not to panic but it does really seem like the world is going to hell in a hand basket. I'm not totally surprised really, and one of the reasons I was a bit leery of having children was precisely because of the crazy spiral this world is in. Today I heard that the stock markets took a major hit today, falling some 700 points or so each! So what does this mean? Well, I'm no finance expert but it ain't good! I've been having a bad feeling that we are headed into a major recession if not a depression to rival the 1920's. I'm not being a pessimist here, I am really hoping that the gov'ts find a way to avoid a complete crash but judging what happened today, I would have to say that we could be in big trouble. So what does this have to do with my kids? Well, a lot actually! My husband works in the construction business and when the economy goes for a dive, construction is one of the first industries that suffers. He's the sole bread winner of the family, you do the math! I guess all we can do is save our pennies and pray!

Children change everything....

Every day! For weeks, I've been planning a day trip to visit a friend that I went to college with. I was all set yesterday, with detailed directions, what I was going to pack for the kids, what time I was going to leave, what I was going wear! DH got off work early yesterday so we decided to take Zander to the park and then go over to the mall to wander aimlessly. The park is always a big hit with Zander! When we finished up at the park, Zander was surprisingly easy to get in the car seat... usually he fights to stay! Right then, I should have realised something was up. We headed over to the mall, got the huge (pain in the neck) double stroller out and went in. Zander likes to walk around the mall so the stroller is just back up. We weren't there for more than five minutes when he was saying "Up?" , so I stuck him in the stroller and he rode along happily... clue number two that something is amiss. After a quick, unproductive tour of the mall we decide to go out for supper. Zander is pretty good in restaurants so we didn't think it would be an issue. We got to our table and he didn't want to sit in the highchair. We even had crayons, cheerios and cranberries and ordered him a chocolate milk, but he just wanted to sit in my lap. The clues just keep coming! He didn't even want a drink of my pop! We finally decided that he was being a bit too whiney and that we didn't want to disturb other diners so we packed up and headed home. When we got home, DH got Zander out of the car seat and said, "He's pretty warm eh?" I asked him if he was sure and he replied that he was burning up. Once we got inside, we checked his temperature and it was 100.8 F! Low grade fever, nothing to worry about. Five minutes later it was 101.5 F. When Zander went into his room and crawled into bed without us prompting, I knew that he was definitely not feeling well. After a dose of Ad.vil, and a bit of a snooze, DH went in to check on him. He pretty much bounced out of bed and seemed like he was back to normal! What's with that??!!??! We got him fed and put him back to bed at 8:30... he protested but he stayed in bed! I checked on him at 10 and he was sweating but not feverish. He woke up a couple of times last night but he went back to bed on his own and slept until 8 this morning! I figured he was ok to make the visit to my friend afterall but I called her and her boys have bad colds! Looks like we'll be staying home today...

been a while:

So, I've been slacking off when it comes to doing my Blog... big surprise! So much is going on around here I don't even know where to start! We finally got Zander a new bed so that Grace could have the crib. And it's been a nightmare! He will not sleep through the night. I know that he used to wake up in his crib but he would just go back to bed. Now he gets out of bed and stands at the door screaming his head off. We don't close his door, we have a gate across so that we can peak in on him if we feel the need. Luckily he doesn't wake up Grace when he does this. He wakes us up and both DH and I are feeling it! It's hard enough that I get up a couple of times a night to feed the baby but when I am getting up another couple of times to put Zan back to bed and sometimes sitting with him to make sure he's asleep, it makes the next day very difficult! Not only are night times difficult, but now naptime for him is almost non-existant! Yesterday I was so frustrated because he was being super whiney that I finally put him in his bed, and shut the door! He cried and yelled for about 15 minutes but then fell asleep. I guess during the day, this is what I will have to do. I hate doing it though, listening to your little boy so upset is difficult, but I guess it's either that, or lose my mind! I've been so tired lately and in a way, I've done it to myself. Friday night, I had a night out with my BFF. We took the train into the T-dot and went to the NKOTB concert. Laugh all you like, but it was a great show and I wish I could go again, although it would be awesome to go in the afternoon so I am not up until 1:30 am. My DH got off lucky that night. The baby ate at 8:30 pm and was happy and cooing until she fell asleep at 10 or so. She didn't wake up to eat again until just after one, when I was on my way home. Luckily we had lots of milk pumped and Daddy could feed her. When I got home, I went straight for the pump! Missing two feedings can make a woman very uncomfortable. DH didn't mind it so much as I was starting to resemble Pamela Anderson, if you know what I mean! Anyway, we are still trying to catch up on missed sleep but it's just not happening... Any other moms out there have a struggle the the crib to bed transition????

The things we do....

for our kids! Last night when we put Zander down to bed, we were amazed that he didn't make a fuss at all. An hour or so later when we were getting ready for bed, DH (dear hubby) decided to check on him to make sure that he was actually in bed. Once in the room, he felt that Zander was sleeping awkwardly so he moved him a bit and covered him up with a blanket. (what a sweet daddy.) On the way out of the room, instead of stepping over the gate, he accidentally kicked it down, scaring the heck out of Grace and I, (we were on the rocking chair in her room, feeding time!) and of course, waking up Zander. It took him about half an hour or more to finally go back to sleep. Now because of the way that our house is laid out, DH and I have the smallest bedroom in the house. We took the small room because it is closest to the back door and DH can leave for work through that door. For some reason, the last few weeks, he has been using the door closest to the kids bedroom. (WT???) It hasn't been an issue until now. This morning, Zander heard Daddy leave for work and woke up but managed to stay quiet and I think slept a bit longer. When Grace work me up at six this morning to eat, I thought he was asleep but after I left her room and crawled back into bed, I could hear him over the monitor. I figured he would go back to bed but by seven he was standing at the gate screaming his head off. Good thing Grace slept through all that noise! So today, I feel like I've had a full day and it's only 2:30-ish. Oh and one other "cherry" to top off the dae... We did a trip to Walmart today to pick up a harness for walking Zander (LOL) and some stuff to go along with his "school" stuff and when I got back out to the car, it would not start! And we just go the stupid thing back from the mechanic... It seems like it is the battery, and hopefully that is all it is, although if it was something that meant we'd have to get a new vehicle, I wouldn't be too upset. ;)

Is Zander a big boy???

This past Friday we finally got Zander a new bed. Grace is far too big for her bassinet, she kept flailing her arms and waking herself up when she hit the sides, so we decided it was time for her to be in the crib, which would mean Zander needed a new bed. We picked out a simple frame and mattress from Ikea hoping that it would be something that he would like. Stephen's parents picked it up for us and brought it to our place when they came for dinner. When I was moving the crib out of Zander's room, he was happily helping me push it out into the baby's room. I don't think he really understood what was going on. When Mom and Dad P got here, they told us that the frame was not in stock but they got the mattress. So we decided to just put the mattress on the floor for now. Zander thought it was so much fun, bouncing on it and laughing... until bedtime. Friday night was not fun! We decided that the only way to keep him in the room was to put the gate across, we'd still be able to see him if necessary. For about an hour Zander stood at the gate a cried... and screamed. Stephen went in and laid down with him for a bit and he seemed alright but every time Stephen would leave the screaming would start all over again. Finally at about 12:30, Zander fell asleep... but then Grace woke up at 1:00 to feed. She woke up again at 3:30 and 6:30... when I was heading back to bed after 6:30, I heard a thump and then Zander started wailing... he had rolled off the mattress. Stephen went into the room and fell asleep with him for an hour or so and then came back to bed. At 8:30, Zander was up for the day. We decided to go to the mall and let Zander walk around hoping he would wear himself out and thus, would nap in his bed. He fell asleep in the car on the way home, stayed almost asleep when we brought him in the house and slept on his bed for about half an hour. We were dreading bedtime on Saturday night. We decided to try something else. He had a bath, we changed him into his bedtime diaper and pjs and we both sat on his bed and read him a story... twice. Then we gave him a kiss goodnight, let him turn off the light and give us hugs and then put him into bed. We put up the gate and left the room. And the screaming started again. This time he lasted only 45 minutes before all went quiet. When we checked on him a little later, he was laying on his bed asleep. BONUS! Unfortunately, on Sunday he did not nap. We thought he was but discovered that he was actually playing all the while. That night we put a latch on the toybox so he coudn't get into it. And wouldn't you know it, he went to bed with no problems! Naptime today was another screamfest until I finally went in and very sternly told him to "Get into bed right now!" I got him to lay down, covered him with a blanket and didn't hear a peep for a couple of hours. Hopefully tonight and tomorrow he just goes down without a fight!

What a difference a night of sleep makes

Last week I was starting to feel like myself again and I know it is because I was able to get more sleep with Grace starting to do longer stretches, so I was in a bit of a panic this week feeling like I was sliding backwards. Yesterday though, I decided to be proactive and make Grace stick to a three hour schedule during the day. Well, IT WORKED! After her 10pm feeding last night, she slept until about 3:30 and after that feeding, I was back in bed by 4-ish, (I must have dozed off a bit while feeding) thinking that it would be great if she would last until 7. She woke me up at ten after! She fell back to sleep and Zander woke me up at quarter to nine. So I think that I got about 9 hours of sleep last night and I feel like my old self. Motivated, (sort of) and positive! Tomorrow we meet with the teacher from A+ to get the tools to get our kids learning. I can't wait!!! I am so excited to get my hands on this stuff and start getting Zander learning even more. He is pretty smart if I do say so myself. I love showing him the shapes and alphabet games on Fisher-price.com but even more, I love looking at his books and hearing him say the sounds of some of the letters before I do! He knows "S", "R", "O", "A", "X". Yeah, I'm bragging! LOL I am sure he has just memorized the sounds and doesn't really know what he is saying, but this A+ program will help us fix that. I can't wait to get started... have I mentioned I am excited about it? I only wish we had learned about it sooner, apparently there are aspects of the program that you can begin at 27 weeks of pregnancy, and they contacted us before Grace was born! That will teach me to procrastinate! I'll have to blog on our progress... if anyone reads this thing!

Hope rings up....

Yesterday I was feeling a little blue and beating myself up about Zander not being able to say much yet. Typical me... LOL Anyway, I made a phone call to Talking Tots, which is a place here that connects kids to a speech therapist if there are concerns. Of course, I get an automated answer, (which I hate, since when did human's become unable to direct calls?) and I end up leaving a message about our file. We had been referred to them by the nurse practitioner that is caring for our kids. The called back and informed me that Zander was at the top of the wait list and that they were going to call me! The good news is that Zander has an appointment on Monday with a therapist to see what is going on with him. And to top that, we got a call today from Z+ Child development telling us that we have been accepted into their program! I feel so much better knowing that there is help on the way. I know that none of this is a coincidence and that God hears all my prays for my kids... even the ones in the form of tears.

Are we doing something wrong?

One of my biggest fears about being a parent is that I am somehow failing my kids. The especially comes into play when it comes to our son. He is now 22 months old and is not really talking. I try not to stress about it, but I feel like it is my fault. I do read to him, admittedly not as much as I should, and we don't talk baby talk with him. It's really started to bother me after reading articles on toddler milestones and realizing that at this age he "should" have about 50-75 words that he is using regularly. The reality is that he has about 10 if he's lucky, although I know that he understands a heck of a lot more than that. I know that he is recognizing letters as well... we have an alphabet book that I read to him and he can flip through the pages and says some of the letters on the right page. He is obsessed with the alphabet right now! He plays it over and over on his leap pad, looks at the alphabet book over and over and plays with his alphabet fridge magnets. oh, and he loves the ABC's Zoo Game on fisher-price.com . To top it all off, we had a woman here this weekend from a company called A+ Child development. She gave us some info on their program and asked us some questions about Zander's development. I felt so horrible not being able to tell her for sure if Zander knows his shapes, colours, numbers to ten, body parts etc. I mean, how am I supposed to know what he is supposed to know? Ok, not the greatest excuse, but alternatively, it's not like he can tell us that's a triangle or that's red. We look at his shapes book a lot and often when we are doing something, I'll tell him the colour of the things we are playing with or looking at. Is it having any effect? I have no idea. I really hope that he starts talking soon, I'm starting to worry that there is something wrong! With Grace, apparently I am supposed to be reading to her, telling her nursery rhymes (if I can remember them) and saying the alphabet, counting, telling her what things are, including colors and shapes, some of this stuff I didn't do with Zander and he's now almost two! According to the study info we were given, parents should be doing certain things doing pregnancy to ensure that their child's brain is developing in a way that gives them a head start. HELLO, WHY DOESN'T SOMEONE TELL YOU THIS STUFF WHEN YOU ARE PREGNANT? And why don't they give you some info at checkups to say, by the next appointment, this is what your kid should be doing and this is how you can help them. The doctor doesn't even have to tell people, just give them a hand out so they at least have the info. Now, I am not going to try to point at someone else and blame them for my lack of knowledge but hello? A little help here???? Am I the only one that feels this way?!?!?
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